I felt compelled to try to redeem myself following the previous entry, so today I will be reviewing one of the greatest albums ever recorded. I say this with no measure of exaggeration, The CD Version of the First Two Records was a life-changing album for me. Now don’t get me wrong, I had heard female rock bands before, even ones where there were more girls than just the singer or the token guitar player/bassist/keyboardist/whatever, even ones that were a little bit angry (gee Alanis, you’ve got so much rage!). But from the opening declaration, “We’re Bikini Kill and we want revolution, girl-style, now!” through to “I remember the back of your head, leaving.” I knew I was dealing with a force of young, passionate, feminist brilliance I had never before encountered.

Although Bikini Kill had a hand in spawning a musical (really cultural) movement called Riot Grrrl, the sound is punk rock through and through. The basic voice/guitar/bass/drums combo powered by little technical skill but a ton of creativity generate fast loud songs that any of your friends’ high school bands could learn by ear in under half an hour, making for great covers at coffee houses and vfw shows. And the lyrics are smart and raw – angry, thought-provoking, and surprisingly hopeful, belted out by a force of nature. It’s no wonder I still count Kathleen Hanna among my great heroes.

So, to the life changing. I was a wee 15-year-old who liked punk rock and wore chucks and wanted cool friends. I knew about feminism and social justice and such but never felt any sort of applicability to my young mind. And I made a friend who was also into punk rock and pretty cool and she put this cd in my hand and I’ve never been the same. For the first time I finally got punk – that it was an expression, an outlet, a community. That there were things going on in the world that deserved my attention and efforts that were not a part of my daily schooling or news consumption. And feminist I became.

Now, who’s to say that this would not have occurred anyway, prompted by some other event or realization. But how lucky am I that it happened and coincided with the discovery of some incredible, powerful, and surprisingly uplifting music? Totally lucky.

Standout songs include the opening track, Double Dare Ya – a singalong kind of anthem with the twin message that things are effed up, but that we can take action to fix it; crank that business! The follow up, Liar, samples the old hippy lyrics “all we are saying is give peace a chance” against a background of blood-curdling girl screams, it makes a lot of folks feel uncomfortable, but it’s sheer genius. Suck My Left One appropriates a delightfully chauvinistic catchphrase and turns it against child sex abuse, awesome! People who complain that the whole album is just an angry bitch screaming, can consider themselves served with the two quiet tunes, Feels Blind (“I eat your hate like love”) and Outta Me. Honestly, the entire album is a gem and no song should be considered skippable, although, Rebel Girl is kind of bore in comparison to rest of the cd, in spite of its “single” status. Might just be me.

I think the thing about this cd is that for the first time music was truly 100% relatable and actually targetted at me. Not the me who was a generic teenager, or a generic girl consumed only with thoughts of boys, or a generic alternative that was just out to be different. This cd was targeted at ME, smart, female, angry, confused, ambitious me. And nearly 15 years later it is still as relatable and powerful as ever.